Why couldn’t this gossip about Lindsey Vonn and Tiger Woods having heated Sochi-related arguments have started before the Katie Couric ­interview?

In October, Vonn said, “We’ll see,” when “Access Hollywood” asked if the most decorated U.S. skier’s man-friend — the world’s most famous golfer — would be cheering her on in February at the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

“He doesn’t like the cold very much,” Vonn told AH.

Now the Nov. 18 National Enquirer is claiming, as the headline reads, “Tiger & Lindsey Going Downhill Fast.”

The lovebirds are reportedly fighting and Vonn is furious with Woods because he’s chosen the Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona over her slalom events.

The 2014 Olympics is an especially big deal because some are questioning whether Vonn can do well so soon after wrecking her right knee in a horrific crash in February at the world championships in Austria.

Via Twitter, I asked Vonn Monday if there was any truth to these reports that Tiger is not attending the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Surprisingly, I have not heard back from her.

I’m sure these reports of arguments would have been a question Couric would’ve asked when she recently interviewed Vonn, who claimed Woods made her “very happy.”

That happiness can’t last if the gold medalist doesn’t feel supported after all the time she has spent at golf ­tournaments — which she told a recent Afton Alps crowd she finds boring because they take so long.

Can’t image Tiger’s balking. He could have a couple of heated tents erected so he could work on his putting and driving. Woods not going to Sochi sends as strong a message. But then again, the only child around whom most of his life has always revolved really needs that Accenture money and prestige, while Olympic champions compete forever.

Crow headlines local concert

Sheryl Crow has been booked to headline a special concert in Cottage Grove for the 15th annual Canadian Pacific Holiday Train.

Crow will be joined by Take 6 at the Dec. 14 fundraiser for Friends in Need Food Shelf, in Cottage Grove.

The 5 p.m. concert, which will be preceded by family-friendly holiday events starting at 4 p.m., will take place at the CP Yard in Cottage Grove.

The three-week journey of CP’s 2013 Holiday Train, which starts in Scranton, Pa., will stop in 26 Minnesota communities on the railway company’s mission to raise awareness of hunger by collecting food and money. The event is free, but concertgoers are asked to make donations of nonperishable food items or toiletries, or cash.

A special guitar

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails recently left St. Paul’s X with a very special guitar.

“Trent is a huge fan of technology in music,” Jora Bart, the X’s PR ­manager, told me. “Our event manager, Jon Koehler, is a huge fan of Trent’s and knew what the perfect gift for him would be — a custom-made USB ­guitar.

“The USB guitars that were being made were not super high quality and in turn were not selling all that well, so they were actually discontinued. So what Jon came up with was the idea to get a nice guitar and install the cutting-edge technology that Trent is really into right now.”

After Koehler worked with Richard Leach Guitars in St. Cloud, to build this one-of-a kind guitar, the next big hurdle was getting permission from the NIN tour manager to present the guitar to Reznor.

Permission was granted, but when Bart called Koehler “he was tied up getting the doors open for the show and was not able to join us. My heart totally broke because this gift was his brainchild. We did our best to tell Trent about all the thought and research that went into making this gift. And you know what? He LOVED IT! He seemed genuinely touched.”

C.J. can be reached at cj@startribune.com and seen on Fox 9’s “Buzz.” E-mailers, please state a subject; “Hello” does not count. Attachments are not opened.

C.J. is a columnist in the Star Tribune's Twin Cities section. Her column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.
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